Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt ( Hon) Mudashiru Obasa, has said security would be given serious consideration in the 2021 budget, saying the state government would improve on what it had achieved.
Obasa said this while speaking with journalists at the opening of a 4-day retreat on medium term expenditure Framework and budget process for members and staff of Lagos State House of Assembly tagged, “Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) As A Critical Tool For Effective Planning And Budgeting.”
“Lagos state has always taken the issue of security very seriously and that is why if you look at our expenditure largely on RRS which happens to be part of Nigeria police, you will see that annually, we have expended alot on security to ensure that we protect the lives and properties of our people in Lagos and I don’t see us deviating from that”, said Obasa.
I won’t say we will increase the budget for security, but I want to assure you that security will be a major consideration in the coming budget, although, that is left for the executive but as the representatives of the people surely we will look for it in the budget”, said Obasa.
Speaking at the retreat which held in Abeokuta, on the essence of the retreat, Obasa said that it was to enhance the human capacity of the lawmakers in the area of budget oversight, saying that the knowledge of MTEF is critical to the understanding of budget planning and process.
He added that the knowledge acquired from the retreat would improve the oversight performance of the lawmakers in the coming years, stressing that it would add positively to the understanding of their roles in the discharge of their responsibility during oversight.
Also, the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Wasiu Sanni-Eshinlokun, who represented the Speaker before his arrival, said the resource persons were highly knowledgeable in budget planning and budgeting and that the participants would enjoy every bit of the programme.
Sanni-Eshinlokun said a proper understanding of MTEF would aid lawmakers’ understanding of budgeting and budgeting process, adding that ” At the end of the retreat, lawmakers would have been well educated on the essence of MTEF to effective planning and budget process and that the knowledge would help them in their oversight duties”.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Acting Clerk of the House, Bar. Olalekan Onafeko, said Lagos since its emergence as a democratic state in 1979 had been playing the role in the transformation of Nigeria economy, saying that it had remained the nerve centre of ECOWAS with a Gross National Product (GNP) of any West Africa Country.
Onafeko added, “Beyond its shores, Lagos is regarded as the nerve centre of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) with a Gross National Product (GNP) that is three times that of any West African Country, thus making it the hub and the springboard for innovation and development in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
“It is said that if Lagos sate were to be a country, it would be the 5th largest economy in Africa. Thus, attaining this enviable stature has taken years of committed leadership, meticulous planning, sustainable development, collaborative efforts within the arms of government, and particularly with robust representation by the legislature”, he added.
